Ulster Officials Reach Tentative Agreement on Redistricting

The dispute among Ulster County officials concerning the procedure to redistrict the county legislature may be resolved. County lawmakers and administration met in a marathon session Thursday evening.

The county legislature wanted to provide input in the process; the county charter review commission didn’t want lawmakers involved.

The tentative agreement Thursday centered on asking the state for a home rule measure that would allow the public to call for a permissive referendum on redistricting after the committee comes up with a map.

Legislature Majority Leader Kenneth Ronk believes that could be the solution.

“The legislature was constantly looking for a check on what is an appointed commission making policy such as that and what the charter commission was looking for was to have no action by the legislature and we very well might have found a balance between those two,” Ronk said.

Lawmakers will meet next week to set a date for a public hearing on the new plan before the full legislature votes on it.